Efforts to simplify assembly and in situ installation of fences and the like are well known. In addition to efforts to achieve simplification and ease of assembly of in situ installations, designs have been developed to eliminate the need for conventional fasteners which add to the labor intensive aspects of assembly and installation and further detract from the esthetics of completed fence installations. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,660,378, 6,375,166 and DES 573,019.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,166, although eliminating the need for conventional fasteners, nevertheless requires tedious and time consuming piercing operations at the installation site. Somewhat similar piercing operations are required in U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,378.
In addition, the embodiments described therein lack the adjustability features necessary during racking of fences in that they lack the ability to provide adjustable positioning of the fence components relative to one another to accommodate a sloping terrain, while at the same time, providing rugged, rattle-free and structurally strong fence assemblies while permitting several degrees of relative movement of the components, while eliminating the need for conventional fasteners.